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Cloud is Dead (Final Fantasy VII CYOA)
- Thread starter Random
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,812
Changing Times, Part XIII
You quickly make your decision and fill out the form for a spare medkit as quickly as your pen can fly, throwing the clipboard back in the quartermaster's face and heading out the door. You're almost late for meeting your new squad. Time to brace yourself. You've never met City Patrol officers you liked before. Hard to get your hopes up for whatever kind of losers you've been stuck with.
You head through the barracks to the eastern mess hall, where you were told to meet your unit. It's a huge room with dozens of enormously long tables for entire companies to sit down and eat together. You glance around. The place is a ghost town except for a few sparsely populated tables. You go and ask one of the lonely eating troops if they've seen the 226th City Patrol squad anywhere, and he points with his plastic spork at the assorted, lounging eight or so guys and gals sitting at a table playing cards. Gil is being exchanged as hands are dealt and won and lost.
Right. Time to make an introduction.
You walk up briskly to the table, and all eyes turn to you. Half of them are smoking, the other half sitting with slouched postures, one even picking his nose like a doofus. Hot damn, you've never seen such a sorry bunch in your life.
You read through the personnel files for everyone earlier, when you first got to the HQ. Now it's simply a matter of assigning names to faces.
"226th?" you ask sharply.
"That's us," says a short, athletic guy with a buzzcut of black hair. He's sitting closest to the end of the table, and his hand of cards is looking pretty snazzy. "What can we do you for, Major?"
"Sound off names and ranks," you command, gesturing at the shorty next to you first.
He sits up a little straighter. "Corporal Cummings, sir. First name Christopher." He takes his cigarette, puffs on it, and puts it out in the ashtray.
You quickly recall what you read of his file. He's a straight shooter and his scores in basic were fine enough, but his prior COs have noted a distinct lack of motivation to endeavor above and beyond the line of duty. He does exactly what he's told, no more, no less. Acceptable, but disappointing.
You turn your finger to another of the squad at random. This one is an average-looking black man who has opted to keep himself bald, but with a neatly-trimmed beard. He nods and says, "Private Polonius J. Reynolds." Like Cummings, his record was mostly positive, yet his actual field performance had been so far unimpressive. There is no indication as to why.
You point at the next one, a freckled redhead who keeps her fiery hair in a stately bun, but has a glossy look in her eyes that makes you uncomfortable.
"Private Lora Werner, sir," she says, taking a long drag of her cigarette. Unlike Cummings, she doesn't bother to put hers out. Her file describes her as competent, but with her own issues. While she gets along fairly well with her fellow men, she has a reputation for insubordination, specifically backtalk of a most inappropriate nature. She has a gang tattoo on her arm and a nasty scar on her chin. She seems the hardest by appearance of all the people at the table.
You turn to the next one. He's a tall, quiet-looking fellow with short brown hair and a gaunt face. He slowly speaks, "Private Harold Thompson, sir." His performance in basic and in the field had both been apparently barely on par with the minimum requirements to serve. However, his discipline has supposedly remained quite excellent despite that.
You glance at the last one, pointing. "I'm Private Vandra Murphy, sir," she says with a short salute. A raven-eyed brunette who is staring holes into your face, she keeps her hair cropped in a bowl cut, and her rather delectable lips are painted a scandalous red. Her file mentioned she had fraternization problems with her COs, which is not enough to get one kicked out of the Public Safety Department, but it is enough to get you dumped into a City Patrol unit even if your performance is otherwise above par.
You glance down at the game of poker they're playing. Now's your turn to introduce yourself. The question is, how should you?
Where do you begin?
A) Start with a bang: break up this gambling and punish them appropriately for it, it's against regulations and hurts morale
B) State your name and rank and that you will be taking command of the unit, ignoring the gambling for now
C) Introduce yourself by joining the poker game and trying to get to know them more personally
D) Go full drill sergeant on them, yell at them for every little violation of regulation you can, and whip their lazy asses into shape
E) There must be some mistake; this can't be your new unit! You better go and request immediate reassignment
F) Other
Character Sheet
You quickly make your decision and fill out the form for a spare medkit as quickly as your pen can fly, throwing the clipboard back in the quartermaster's face and heading out the door. You're almost late for meeting your new squad. Time to brace yourself. You've never met City Patrol officers you liked before. Hard to get your hopes up for whatever kind of losers you've been stuck with.
You head through the barracks to the eastern mess hall, where you were told to meet your unit. It's a huge room with dozens of enormously long tables for entire companies to sit down and eat together. You glance around. The place is a ghost town except for a few sparsely populated tables. You go and ask one of the lonely eating troops if they've seen the 226th City Patrol squad anywhere, and he points with his plastic spork at the assorted, lounging eight or so guys and gals sitting at a table playing cards. Gil is being exchanged as hands are dealt and won and lost.
Right. Time to make an introduction.
You walk up briskly to the table, and all eyes turn to you. Half of them are smoking, the other half sitting with slouched postures, one even picking his nose like a doofus. Hot damn, you've never seen such a sorry bunch in your life.
You read through the personnel files for everyone earlier, when you first got to the HQ. Now it's simply a matter of assigning names to faces.
"226th?" you ask sharply.
"That's us," says a short, athletic guy with a buzzcut of black hair. He's sitting closest to the end of the table, and his hand of cards is looking pretty snazzy. "What can we do you for, Major?"
"Sound off names and ranks," you command, gesturing at the shorty next to you first.
He sits up a little straighter. "Corporal Cummings, sir. First name Christopher." He takes his cigarette, puffs on it, and puts it out in the ashtray.
You quickly recall what you read of his file. He's a straight shooter and his scores in basic were fine enough, but his prior COs have noted a distinct lack of motivation to endeavor above and beyond the line of duty. He does exactly what he's told, no more, no less. Acceptable, but disappointing.
You turn your finger to another of the squad at random. This one is an average-looking black man who has opted to keep himself bald, but with a neatly-trimmed beard. He nods and says, "Private Polonius J. Reynolds." Like Cummings, his record was mostly positive, yet his actual field performance had been so far unimpressive. There is no indication as to why.
You point at the next one, a freckled redhead who keeps her fiery hair in a stately bun, but has a glossy look in her eyes that makes you uncomfortable.
"Private Lora Werner, sir," she says, taking a long drag of her cigarette. Unlike Cummings, she doesn't bother to put hers out. Her file describes her as competent, but with her own issues. While she gets along fairly well with her fellow men, she has a reputation for insubordination, specifically backtalk of a most inappropriate nature. She has a gang tattoo on her arm and a nasty scar on her chin. She seems the hardest by appearance of all the people at the table.
You turn to the next one. He's a tall, quiet-looking fellow with short brown hair and a gaunt face. He slowly speaks, "Private Harold Thompson, sir." His performance in basic and in the field had both been apparently barely on par with the minimum requirements to serve. However, his discipline has supposedly remained quite excellent despite that.
You glance at the last one, pointing. "I'm Private Vandra Murphy, sir," she says with a short salute. A raven-eyed brunette who is staring holes into your face, she keeps her hair cropped in a bowl cut, and her rather delectable lips are painted a scandalous red. Her file mentioned she had fraternization problems with her COs, which is not enough to get one kicked out of the Public Safety Department, but it is enough to get you dumped into a City Patrol unit even if your performance is otherwise above par.
You glance down at the game of poker they're playing. Now's your turn to introduce yourself. The question is, how should you?
Where do you begin?
A) Start with a bang: break up this gambling and punish them appropriately for it, it's against regulations and hurts morale
B) State your name and rank and that you will be taking command of the unit, ignoring the gambling for now
C) Introduce yourself by joining the poker game and trying to get to know them more personally
D) Go full drill sergeant on them, yell at them for every little violation of regulation you can, and whip their lazy asses into shape
E) There must be some mistake; this can't be your new unit! You better go and request immediate reassignment
F) Other
Character Sheet
Name: Marcus "Steelwall" Westford
Class: Ranger
Level: 2
Profession: Major of the ShinRa Co. Peacekeeping Corps, Department of Public Safety, Military Police Division
Age: 23
Dominant Inner Nature: None
Health: [Pristine - Fine - Poor - Severe - Critical - Dead]
Status: Clear
Characteristics:
Strength 4 Agility 8
Tenacity 6 Intelligence 7
MP: 2/2
Skills:
Discipline Lvl. 3
Marksmanship Lvl. 2, Athletics Lvl. 2, Bluff Lvl. 2
Hand-to-Hand Lvl. 1, Fieldcraft Lvl. 1, Stealth Lvl. 1, Academics Lvl. 1, Observation Lvl. 1, Electronics Lvl. 1, Computer Use Lvl. 1, Cooking Lvl. 1, Charm Lvl. 1, Drug Use Lvl. 1, Materia Use Lvl. 1
Perks:
Tough Guy ("Love the suck." The penalty for all mundane negative status effects is reduced by 1)
Inventory: Civilian casual clothes, Shinra Employee ID Card, Pocket Knife, Portable Handheld System, Wallet w/ 12,245 Gil, Note from Janice, Tom's business card (blood-stained), Concealed Handgun Permit (Licensed to carry 1 firearm)
Gear: Bolt Materia (Lvl. 1), Peacekeeping Corps. Light Combat Armor, SM20-A2 Assault Rifle, SM2 Service Pistol, Nightstick, three magazines of 7.62x39mm, two clips of 9mm, two frag grenades
Class: Ranger
Level: 2
Profession: Major of the ShinRa Co. Peacekeeping Corps, Department of Public Safety, Military Police Division
Age: 23
Dominant Inner Nature: None
Health: [Pristine - Fine - Poor - Severe - Critical - Dead]
Status: Clear
Characteristics:
Strength 4 Agility 8
Tenacity 6 Intelligence 7
MP: 2/2
Skills:
Discipline Lvl. 3
Marksmanship Lvl. 2, Athletics Lvl. 2, Bluff Lvl. 2
Hand-to-Hand Lvl. 1, Fieldcraft Lvl. 1, Stealth Lvl. 1, Academics Lvl. 1, Observation Lvl. 1, Electronics Lvl. 1, Computer Use Lvl. 1, Cooking Lvl. 1, Charm Lvl. 1, Drug Use Lvl. 1, Materia Use Lvl. 1
Perks:
Tough Guy ("Love the suck." The penalty for all mundane negative status effects is reduced by 1)
Inventory: Civilian casual clothes, Shinra Employee ID Card, Pocket Knife, Portable Handheld System, Wallet w/ 12,245 Gil, Note from Janice, Tom's business card (blood-stained), Concealed Handgun Permit (Licensed to carry 1 firearm)
Gear: Bolt Materia (Lvl. 1), Peacekeeping Corps. Light Combat Armor, SM20-A2 Assault Rifle, SM2 Service Pistol, Nightstick, three magazines of 7.62x39mm, two clips of 9mm, two frag grenades
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 29,890
True, but I somehow think it's very important that we learn who cheats at poker in this team. More specifically if all or none.
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,812
gambling.
B.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
Whew, busy day.
G. Order them to cease gambling, but permit them to keep playing poker. If anyone protests (which they will), cite the regulation.
The issue here seems to simple: no discipline or motivation and they likely treat this as a simple job and not as a service. This is something Marcus must fix, at least for the sake of his own career if nothing else.
To that end, we must whip them into shape, but first we must first assert ourselves. If the first thing we do upon meeting them is close our eyes to their rule-breaking, it will be very difficult to assert ourselves later.
I want to treat them like adults and establish a healthy commander-subordinate relationship. If they want to play fuck-fuck games, we can do that too.
G. Order them to cease gambling, but permit them to keep playing poker. If anyone protests (which they will), cite the regulation.
The issue here seems to simple: no discipline or motivation and they likely treat this as a simple job and not as a service. This is something Marcus must fix, at least for the sake of his own career if nothing else.
To that end, we must whip them into shape, but first we must first assert ourselves. If the first thing we do upon meeting them is close our eyes to their rule-breaking, it will be very difficult to assert ourselves later.
I want to treat them like adults and establish a healthy commander-subordinate relationship. If they want to play fuck-fuck games, we can do that too.
Last edited:
Baltika speaks reason. I support his proposal.
+1 for Baltika's G
+1 for Baltika's G
Kalin
Unwanted
A > G
It'd sure go swimmingly between us and a guy like him.
Last edited:
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
We can bond over our mutual love of shooting terrists.
This. I prefer that we don't ignore illegal shit, but cut them some slack
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2008
- Messages
- 2,812
Seems even enough in votes to go for a hybrid of choices between B and G.
Changing Times, Part XIV
"Right," you say after Vandra finishes introducing herself. "I am Major Marcus Westford and your new CO. We are scheduled to deploy for a routine patrol of Sector 2's streets in one hour. As such, I expect all gil that has changed hands in this game to be returned to its respective owners immediately. If I ever see a single gil exchanged over cards, races, or any other vector, I will put every single one of you on report. Am I understood?"
The group of MPs stiffen visibly the second they hear your name. They must have had a feeling already. The tension only grows all the greater when you issue your first command.
"It's just a few gil, sir," Werner says with an annoyed scoff. Judging by the bills sitting on her side of the table, she was winning the majority of the pot. No wonder she's the most upset.
You give her a look. You don't intend to be their boogeyman, but you certainly will not tolerate that kind of behavior. She seems ready to fight with you about it, but then settles back down, likely considering it to be not worth her time.
"I don't care if it's one gil or one million, Werner. Gambling is a breach of regulations," you state flatly. "This is not the Golden Saucer, and you are not off-duty. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Cummings mumbles, clearly a bit put-off as well. No one else says anything.
"That was addressed to every one of you, and I expect an answer from every one of you. Am I understood?" you say, a little louder and firmer.
"Sir, yes, sir!" shouted all five of them in response.
"Good. I expect to see all of you kitted and ready to roll in the garage five minutes before we're due to depart. That will be all," you say, adjusting your armored suit and strolling back out of the mess hall without waiting for them to stand and salute you. From the sounds of the chairs being slid, only one of them bothered to do so. You'll work on that part later.
Of course, you don't really expect to work miracles, and you aren't exactly trying to be a total hardass with them, either. You were being relatively soft, not getting on them about uniforms and so on, nor actually applying an appropriate punishment for the gambling itself. But you did have to put your foot down right away. If they're caught doing that by someone else, it's you who'll get dressed down for it. Now that you've established yourself with your squad, they'll be more careful when you're around, which is essentially all you can really hope for.
It's not the friendlier sort of atmosphere you had with your unit in your previous post, but it will have to do for now.
You take care of some other business and find that your requisition has been granted, and you store your new first aid kit in your bag. Hopefully you'll never have to use it. Or someone more qualified will use it for you.
Now, while you have a little less than an hour, you have to figure out how best to use your squad. They've all got basic MP training, but Cummings has apparently been the primary driver of the squad vehicle for the last two years. Reynolds, the black fellow, is most notable for being a good runner (has a fair number of chase collars on some perps). Werner has the best marksmanship scores out of the group, Thompson has yet to truly distinguish himself from the files you read, and Murphy seems to have a bit of a reputation for being a smooth talker and knowing how to get people to do her favors.
Just as you're getting ready to head to the garage for the squad vehicle to await your unit, you hear an alert siren go off and trot to the nearest info terminal. Apparently, some monsters have been sighted in one of the ShinRa civilian car production facilities in Sector 3. All available units are being tasked with an immediate response to search and destroy the monster infestation.
As the CO of your unit, it is your responsibility to either answer the call to action or let it slide. Since your unit hasn't even deployed for its first patrol yet, you aren't really obligated to respond. But if you did, you have a feeling your superiors would take notice, especially if you performed well. But do you have what it takes to pull that off with an inexperienced squad?
What do you do?
A) Answer the call and head to the factory immediately
B) Ignore the call and focus on cementing your unit; you're not ready for this kind of action yet
C) Other
Roll Results
Character Sheet
Changing Times, Part XIV
"Right," you say after Vandra finishes introducing herself. "I am Major Marcus Westford and your new CO. We are scheduled to deploy for a routine patrol of Sector 2's streets in one hour. As such, I expect all gil that has changed hands in this game to be returned to its respective owners immediately. If I ever see a single gil exchanged over cards, races, or any other vector, I will put every single one of you on report. Am I understood?"
The group of MPs stiffen visibly the second they hear your name. They must have had a feeling already. The tension only grows all the greater when you issue your first command.
"It's just a few gil, sir," Werner says with an annoyed scoff. Judging by the bills sitting on her side of the table, she was winning the majority of the pot. No wonder she's the most upset.
You give her a look. You don't intend to be their boogeyman, but you certainly will not tolerate that kind of behavior. She seems ready to fight with you about it, but then settles back down, likely considering it to be not worth her time.
"I don't care if it's one gil or one million, Werner. Gambling is a breach of regulations," you state flatly. "This is not the Golden Saucer, and you are not off-duty. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Cummings mumbles, clearly a bit put-off as well. No one else says anything.
"That was addressed to every one of you, and I expect an answer from every one of you. Am I understood?" you say, a little louder and firmer.
"Sir, yes, sir!" shouted all five of them in response.
"Good. I expect to see all of you kitted and ready to roll in the garage five minutes before we're due to depart. That will be all," you say, adjusting your armored suit and strolling back out of the mess hall without waiting for them to stand and salute you. From the sounds of the chairs being slid, only one of them bothered to do so. You'll work on that part later.
Of course, you don't really expect to work miracles, and you aren't exactly trying to be a total hardass with them, either. You were being relatively soft, not getting on them about uniforms and so on, nor actually applying an appropriate punishment for the gambling itself. But you did have to put your foot down right away. If they're caught doing that by someone else, it's you who'll get dressed down for it. Now that you've established yourself with your squad, they'll be more careful when you're around, which is essentially all you can really hope for.
It's not the friendlier sort of atmosphere you had with your unit in your previous post, but it will have to do for now.
You take care of some other business and find that your requisition has been granted, and you store your new first aid kit in your bag. Hopefully you'll never have to use it. Or someone more qualified will use it for you.
Now, while you have a little less than an hour, you have to figure out how best to use your squad. They've all got basic MP training, but Cummings has apparently been the primary driver of the squad vehicle for the last two years. Reynolds, the black fellow, is most notable for being a good runner (has a fair number of chase collars on some perps). Werner has the best marksmanship scores out of the group, Thompson has yet to truly distinguish himself from the files you read, and Murphy seems to have a bit of a reputation for being a smooth talker and knowing how to get people to do her favors.
Just as you're getting ready to head to the garage for the squad vehicle to await your unit, you hear an alert siren go off and trot to the nearest info terminal. Apparently, some monsters have been sighted in one of the ShinRa civilian car production facilities in Sector 3. All available units are being tasked with an immediate response to search and destroy the monster infestation.
As the CO of your unit, it is your responsibility to either answer the call to action or let it slide. Since your unit hasn't even deployed for its first patrol yet, you aren't really obligated to respond. But if you did, you have a feeling your superiors would take notice, especially if you performed well. But do you have what it takes to pull that off with an inexperienced squad?
What do you do?
A) Answer the call and head to the factory immediately
B) Ignore the call and focus on cementing your unit; you're not ready for this kind of action yet
C) Other
Roll Results
Discipline roll to establish order with Werner:
1d20 + Discipline Lvl. 3 + Tenacity 6 + Pristine = 13 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 27
TN: Werner's Tenacity + 1d20 = 7 + 14 = 21
Great Success!
1d20 + Discipline Lvl. 3 + Tenacity 6 + Pristine = 13 + 6 + 6 + 2 = 27
TN: Werner's Tenacity + 1d20 = 7 + 14 = 21
Great Success!
Character Sheet
Name: Marcus "Steelwall" Westford
Class: Ranger
Level: 2
Profession: Major of the ShinRa Co. Peacekeeping Corps, Department of Public Safety, Military Police Division
Age: 23
Dominant Inner Nature: None
Health: [Pristine - Fine - Poor - Severe - Critical - Dead]
Status: Clear
Characteristics:
Strength 4 Agility 8
Tenacity 6 Intelligence 7
MP: 2/2
Skills:
Discipline Lvl. 3
Marksmanship Lvl. 2, Athletics Lvl. 2, Bluff Lvl. 2
Hand-to-Hand Lvl. 1, Fieldcraft Lvl. 1, Stealth Lvl. 1, Academics Lvl. 1, Observation Lvl. 1, Electronics Lvl. 1, Computer Use Lvl. 1, Cooking Lvl. 1, Charm Lvl. 1, Drug Use Lvl. 1, Materia Use Lvl. 1
Perks:
Tough Guy ("Love the suck." The penalty for all mundane negative status effects is reduced by 1)
Inventory: Civilian casual clothes, Shinra Employee ID Card, Pocket Knife, Portable Handheld System, Wallet w/ 12,245 Gil, Note from Janice, Tom's business card (blood-stained), Concealed Handgun Permit (Licensed to carry 1 firearm)
Gear: Bolt Materia (Lvl. 1), Peacekeeping Corps. Light Combat Armor, SM20-A2 Assault Rifle, SM2 Service Pistol, Nightstick, three magazines of 7.62x39mm, two clips of 9mm, two frag grenades, first aid kit
Class: Ranger
Level: 2
Profession: Major of the ShinRa Co. Peacekeeping Corps, Department of Public Safety, Military Police Division
Age: 23
Dominant Inner Nature: None
Health: [Pristine - Fine - Poor - Severe - Critical - Dead]
Status: Clear
Characteristics:
Strength 4 Agility 8
Tenacity 6 Intelligence 7
MP: 2/2
Skills:
Discipline Lvl. 3
Marksmanship Lvl. 2, Athletics Lvl. 2, Bluff Lvl. 2
Hand-to-Hand Lvl. 1, Fieldcraft Lvl. 1, Stealth Lvl. 1, Academics Lvl. 1, Observation Lvl. 1, Electronics Lvl. 1, Computer Use Lvl. 1, Cooking Lvl. 1, Charm Lvl. 1, Drug Use Lvl. 1, Materia Use Lvl. 1
Perks:
Tough Guy ("Love the suck." The penalty for all mundane negative status effects is reduced by 1)
Inventory: Civilian casual clothes, Shinra Employee ID Card, Pocket Knife, Portable Handheld System, Wallet w/ 12,245 Gil, Note from Janice, Tom's business card (blood-stained), Concealed Handgun Permit (Licensed to carry 1 firearm)
Gear: Bolt Materia (Lvl. 1), Peacekeeping Corps. Light Combat Armor, SM20-A2 Assault Rifle, SM2 Service Pistol, Nightstick, three magazines of 7.62x39mm, two clips of 9mm, two frag grenades, first aid kit
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
I'm not really comfortable with throwing away the lives of a squad that we haven't even trained yet, I kinda like them, actually (still waiting for Riggs). On the other hand, this might be a good opportunity to earn some of their respect.
I'll wait to hear some arguments.
I'll wait to hear some arguments.
Kalin
Unwanted
A - Screw those losers!
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
The spirit of Lord Zhang lives on. If they can't handle a couple of monsters, they just aren't good enough to roll with Marcus.
A
Forget about waiting for our Martin Riggs.
We're Martin Riggs.
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